At the Top

The quality of public education ranked as the top priority in the
1996 presidential election for respondents in a recent USA
Today/CNN/Gallup Poll. The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted by
telephone Jan. 5-7. It has a margin of error of plus/minus 3 percentage
points. The respondents were to do the following: "I'm going to read a
list which includes some national issues and some problems facing
Americans today. For each one, please tell me how important a
candidate's position on that issue is to you personally in deciding
which candidate you will support for president."

Percent

Issue

67%

Quality of public education

66

Crime

64

Economy

63 (tie)

Availability of good jobs
Availability of health coverage
Cost of health care

Republicans: 66% chose the deficit; 66% chose the quality of
public education.

Social Programs In the Polls

A December 1995 poll by Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc., a
Democratic polling firm, and the Coldwater Corporation, a Republican
firm headed by consultant Robert Teeter, for NBC and The Wall Street
Journal, asked 2,007 respondents the following by telephone:

What would you say are the two or three most important issues or
problems facing the nation today that you personally would like to
see the federal government in Washington do something about?

The table below shows the poll's responses, in
percentages, for the category of social programs, as well as responses
gathered in similar polls in January of 1993, 1994, and 1995.
Education/schools was the top issue for 13 percent of respondents in
January 1995; that percentage had increased to 24 percent by December
1995. Only crime and violence, at 33 percent, ranked higher. The margin
of error is 2.2 percent.

Social Programs

12/95

1/95

1/94

1/93

Children/day care

2%

1%

1%

2%

Education/schools

24

13

14

14

Welfare reform

12

25

6

3

Homelessness/housing

5

9

13

13

Poverty, social services

5

5

4

3

AIDS

1

1

1

3

Social Security/senior citizens

7

6

2

3

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